Chrissy Murderbot - Bussin' Down

Planet Mu's latest juke-related release comes from Chicago mainstay Chrissy Murderbot. While the all-purpose-party DJ/expert curator can hardly be called a footwork producer based on his varied previous work, his Planet Mu debut (ahead of a full album) is his own take on the style. "Bussin' Down" takes the tropes of the kind of footwork previously explored by Mu—stuttering vocals, flailing toms and hypnotically intense repetition—and applies them to a more spacious and warmer template. Featuring vocals from footwork master DJ Spinn, the track's sped-up easy-listening vibes quickly transform from gaudy gimmick to much-needed atmosphere. What's immediately apparent about Murderbot's production is how professional it sounds. Whether or not footwork needs to be dressed up is a question best explored elsewhere, but the result is satisfying nonetheless.

More crazed amalgam than genre exercise, non-album b-side "Braaain" stretches out a two-syllable vocal sample like taffy over a dancehall skank that quickly accelerates into frantic chaos, a thrilling subversion of footwork that mercifully settles back down by the track's end. The single is rounded off by two remixes of "The Vibe Is So Right" from the upcoming Women's Studies album, featuring excitable vocals from dancehall star MC Zulu. Bristol producer Atki2 is up first, and he gets a leg-up on the UK-referencing junglist vibes of the original, juggling the Amen fragments in a more traditional UK funky framework to uproarious results. Footwork royalty Spinn & Rashad go dark on their remix, turning it into a two-minute nightmare of taunting vocals, hollow percussion and literally nothing else.